This is a remaster of a broadcast I did in 2012 when I had just returned from almost a month in Mali making field and studio recordings. Very special stuff:Here's the original intro:I'm back from the Sahara, and, as promised, have a ton of recordings to share with you. This special show was originally broadcast on WKCR on 89.9 FM-NY and feature ...…

Hailing from Cameroon, but living now in France, singer and multi-instrumentalist, Blick Bassy is creating a fresh, new sound with stunning vocals, banjo and luscious soundscapes from his bandmates. His new album, Akö with his comrades Clément Petit on cello and Johan Blanc on trombone, are raising eyebrows with their totally original tribute t ...…

This week we revisit a classic interview with Hugh Masekela from 2013.Hugh Masekela is the most well known jazz musician from Africa. His first big hit was in 1968 and he has sold millions of albums, won multiple Grammys and worked with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Dizzy Gillespie. Fresh off a tour with Paul Simon, he and his band are super-r ...…

Walter Becker, co-founder of Steely Dan, passed away this week. Today, I went digging through my archives and found a 2010 interview we recorded upon the release of Roger Rosenberg's Baritonality, an album Becker produced. I found it and wanted to share it immediately. Walter's open spirit, humility, and excitement about the big and small thing ...…

Samarth Nagarkar (vocal), Meghashyam Keshav (tabla), Rohan Prabhudesai (harmonium) perform a 6AM set at the Ragas Live Festival 2016.This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art. Samarth will perform at 10pm.Tickets here

Max ZT Ensemble played a late night set at the Ragas Live Festival 2016 at Pioneer Works.1am-2am Max ZT (hammered dulcimer), Sameer Gupta (tabla), Priya Darshini (vocal),This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art. At 4pm Max ZT and Jay Gandhi give a tribute to their world-renowned teachers, Shivkumar Sharma and Haripra ...…

Pradhanica with Mike Lukshis (tabla), Kaumil Shah (djembe), and Vincent Pierce (cajon), Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury (sitar) perform a 2-3am set at the Ragas Live Festival 2016 at Pioneer Works.This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art and the sitarist Indro Roy-Chowdhury will play at 11am.Tickets here…

Anupam Shobhakar plays a midnight set at Ragas Live Festival 2016.Anupam Shobhakar (sarod) Shankh Lahiri (Tabla)Live at Pioneer Works 12 am -1amAnupam is a dazzling performer and a virtuoso of the Sarod. He has appeared many times at the Ragas Live Festival.This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art.Tickets here…

The 9pm-10 Set Live at Pioneer Works with Snehashish Mozumdar (mandolin), Shiva Ghoshal (tabla) from the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival.Snehashish is an explosive, dynamic performer who is pushing the boundaries of his instrument. He has played on several Ragas Live Festivals in the past.This year's festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museu ...…

Here’s a great one from the archives! A beautiful live performance and discussion with Abdoulaye Alhassane Tourewith Deep Sahara at WKCR in 2010. w/ Yacouba Diabate (Kora) Frederika Krier (Violin) and David Ellenbogen (guitar). Abdoulaye is a guitarist and singer from Gao, Mali with roots in Northern Mali and Niger. He brings all these regional ...…

Jean-Claude van Itallie, is a creative force across many genres. Norman Mailer called one his works "possibly the best one-act play I have ever seen.” He's a poet, meditator, health-guru, translator, writer and it doesn't stop there. We sit on the porch with Jean-Claude van Itallie at his inspriring retreat center, Shantigar.…

Lizz Wright, we learn, is more than just a singer of incredible power and subtlety. She's living to create, not creating to live. Lizz drops a lot of wisdom during our chat and we get to hear a taste of her brand new album, Grace.

Yaadcore is a cultured selector that has already began making waves on Jamaica’s music scene. Also the Dj for reggae artist Protoje.BiographyMore and more youths, seeking to connect with their cultural roots, invariably come across particular names in the field of music. No doubt they eventually stumble upon Yaadcore. As his name suggests, he i ...…

Brooklyn Raga Massive's Coltrane Raga Tribute are about to drop their New Album - and the release party will be a free concert in Prospect Park at Celebrate Brooklyn June 23rd with Pharoah Sanders headlining!We hang with Sameer Gupta, the tabla upstart, drummer and musical director of the project and listen to a live performance from Pioneer Wo ...…

Barbès is a small Brooklyn club which has been presenting music on a daily basis for now 15 years. Started on a shoestring budget in a former barber shop in the South Slope, Barbès has for years acted as a kind of laboratory for all different kinds of new projects and become a true community hub.They're in the hole $70,000K and have turned to t ...…

For Chico Freeman, Jazz is the family business. His father played with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald and his grandfather was an associate of Louis Armstrong.Chico has had an amazing career playing with the likes of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Sun Ra, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Celia Cruz, Charles Mingus, Ti ...…

The day after a moving performance with Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Jeff Tain Watts an other giants of Jazz, we hung out at home with Jay Gandhi! After our short conversation he shares a special live performance.Jay is an artist who dedicated to the Hindustani tradition and is also bringing his instrument, the bansuri, into new territory.…

The nineteenth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works. Samarth Nagarkar (vocal), Meghashyam Keshav (tabla), Rohan Prabhudesai (harmonium). This is a great to chance to experience music created for the sunrise. It was performed as the first rays broke through the evening sky.Samarth Nagarkar is a Hindustani classica ...…

In this incredible episode we capture Innov Gnawa performing the "Sebatayin" repetoire, Gnawa music performed traditionally in Morrocco for the Jewish Community. They performed this for the end of Passover at Greenwich House Music School as part of the UNCHARTED concert series.The Jewish presence in Morocco dates back to over 2,500 years ago an ...…

This was one of my favorite early episodes. Cosmas Magya is a master of the Mbira ( a type of thumb piano) from the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe. Here he performs and explains the way the instrument is used in ceremonies to contact ancestors. We'll also hear a track he recorded with another powerful Mbira player and vocalist Beauler Dyoko. (Rebroadc ...…

We get to hang at home with LADAMA! We recorded some songs and chat with Mafer Bandola (bandola llanera), Lara Klaus (percussion, drums), Daniela Serna (percussion) Sara Lucas (voice, guitar) and Pat Swoboda (bass). LADAMA is an ensemble of women musicians (joined by Pat for this session) who combine the rhythms and traditional instrumentation ...…

We're psyched to see that one of one of our favorite groups in NYC Innov Gnawa is combining forces with the great Vieux Farka Tourre this Thursday at BRIC.Last September, we got sit down and hang with Vieux Farka Toure, talk to him and record a little acoustic music…AND record his entire live set at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan with his moking ...…

With stirring vocal harmonies and luscious arrangements, Miramar breathe life into the classic bolero tradition. We got to sit down with their music director and keyboardist, Marlyse Simmons and learn about the history of boleros and hear and learn about the muse of their new album Sylvia Rexach.

The world-renowned Moroccan Festival Gnaoua et Musiques du MondeEssaouira celebrates its 20th anniversary with a debut NYC collaboration. Great Maalems (masters) and all-stars of the festival trace a musical journey of the ancient music of Gnawa during a night of trance and tradition.There will be events all week in NYC.In this WKCR broadcast w ...…

The talented violinist Trina Basu of Karavika joined us on WKCR to present an entire month of women led ensembles at the Brooklyn Raga Massive...we'll hear from Roshni Samlal, Yalini Dream, Ganavya Doraiswamy, Morely, Karavika, Alif Leila, The Epichorus and much more.

Montreal based Thanya Iyer, creates a compelling mix of Carnatic influenced vocals, impressionist classical composition and electronica. She brought her voice and keys to WKCR for a live set with Daniel Gelinas on Drums/Synths and Alex Kasirer-Smibert on bass/synths. The new album is called "Do you Dream"…

Last night at WKCR 89.9 FM-NY, Brooklyn Raga Massive members created a sea of drones for raga based improvisation, based on the calls coming into the station it seemed to be just what the city needed!The group "Unstruck Sound" will be performing this Friday Feb 24th at the Rubin Museum of Art.. Followed by a Sound Meditation with Acoustic Manda ...…

The mind blowing singer from Mauritania has been on our radio show before and she's coming to NYC to perform for World Music Institute at (Le) Poisson Rouge Friday, February 24, 2017.We'll share our first encounter with Noura Mint Seymali when we recorded her in Timbuktu with her husband, Jeiche Ould Chighaly. It was an intimate acoustic record ...…

We get to hang with Albert Mazibuko an member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo for over 30 years. Albert talks about his memories of times with Nelson Mandela, and how this angel music was both born in the mines and the land of dreams. The group plays B.B. Kings March 8th.

Blato Zlato kicked the doors down at this year's Golden Fest, the amazing annual Balkan festival in NYC featuring over 60 bands. We got to talk backstage with Lou Carrig, Annalisa Kelly,Ruby Ross and check out selections from their new album Swamp Gold.Formed in 2015, the band performs folk and composed music from the Balkans and Eastern Europe ...…

Hailing from Venezuela, Betsayda Machado & Parranda El Clavo made their New York debut at GlobalFest this week. The group's electrifying live set, complete with pitch perfect harmonies, dazzling dancers, and irresistible rhythms earned them legions of new fans and a feature in the next days's New York Times.We sat down with Betsayda with her ma ...…

Just before we left for Cuba to record for this podcast, Brooklyn Raga Massive's Raga Cubana feat. Roman Diaz, had an intimate concert to get ready for our sold out concert a month later at the Rubin Museum of Art.Here we are trying new things and feeling the hometown energy and love from the Raga Massive Jam Session at the Art CafeWithRomán Dí ...…

After three weeks of recording music in Cuba, we return with this special epsiode featuring a live performance from Groupo Folklorico 19 de Septiembre of Santiago de Cuba. Guided by their lead Bata' drummer, Roberto Maikel Fuentes, we'll learn about 3 rhythms: Guanguanco', Tumba Francesa and Columbia.…

The seventh set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works. Neel Murgai (sitar), Sameer Gupta (tabla). Neel and Sameer will be performing at the Raga Massive Concert and Jam Session at the Art Cafe (885 Pacific Street, Brooklyn) this Wednesday, Jan 4th 8pm.Neel is a multi-instrumental performer, composer and teacher in New ...…

The ninth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works. Roopa Mahadevan (vocal) Anjna Swaminathan (violin), Bala Skandan (mridangam), Kabilan Jeginathan (kanjira).Roopa Mahadevan is a versatile vocalist rooted in the South Indian (Carnatic) classical tradition. Born and raised in San Jose, California, Roopa underwent her ...…

We hang out with Olivier Conan, the band leader of Chicha Libre, and the owner of Brooklyn's most beloved listening room, Barbes. We'll hear some of the smoking tracks from his group and his Barbes Records label and get his take on what's happening in the world.Barbes will be hosting a free and open event this Sunday about the general state of ...…

As NYC and the world woke up to the results of an election, we gathered, as always, on Wednesday night, our inclusive, diverse music scene taking on a new meaning. Tomchess and his quartet rose to the occasion and captured the moment with stunning soulful maquam based compositions informed by the free jazz improvisations of of Ornette Coleman a ...…

Composer, songwriter, bandleader and multiple instrumentalist Sean Cronin isn't afraid to let the music get strange. The only thing you can count on is to be surprised... and leave with a smile on your face. We hung out with Sean at his house as his chamber-rock ensemble Very Good was getting ready to play one of Brooklyn's great venues, Barbes ...…

The fourth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works. Dan Weiss (Drumset) and Michael Gam (bass).Weiss has been studying tabla and Indian classical music with his Guru (teacher) Samir Chatterjee since 1998. With his Tintal Drum set Solo, Dan takes the concept of a traditional Indian tabla solo and migrates it to a con ...…

This was an amazing experience. We got to hang in the studio with two legends of Afro-Cuban Jazz: Bobby Carcassés and Arturo O'Farrill! After the two recorded an improvised set we got to sit down and talk music. We also get to hear some music from Bobby's record celebrating his 50 years of creating music in Havana and NYC: 50 TH Aniversario, De ...…

This was an amazing experience! We sit down with one of the great families of rhythm for a live performance and interview. TH Vikku Vanyakram and family will be back in NYC, starting Oct. 24th teaching an incredible workshop on rhythm. Recorded at the East Indian Music Academy, this is a legendary lineup:TH Vikku Vanyakram, Uma Shankar -ghatamS ...…

Amir ElSaffar brings his deep knowledge of Iraqui maqam to the context of jazz, creating a fresh, new, vibrant style of music. The multi-instrumentalist (vocalist, trumpet player and dulcimer) joined me for an intimate, at home, interview. He shares tracks from his stunning new album Crisis. His 17 piece ensemble is coming to Pioneer Works this ...…

This was a real incredible experience. We got sit down and hang with Vieux Farka Toure, talk to him and record a little acoustic music...AND record his entire live set at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan with hissmoking band! Many thanks to World Music Institute and Le Poisson Rouge for making this happen. This podcast will air on WKCR 89.9 FM-NY ...…

Vocalists Sattar Khan Langa, Manjoor Khan Manganiyar join us at WKCR for a live in-studio set. The music from this region is recognized around the world for its virtuosity and beauty. The chance to see and hear real live Rajasthani folk music is really rare and these guys really blew us away.

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